Clarity
by sweetsouthernsarcasm
Summary: Hilda has traveled to Kalos, wanting to challenge the gyms, and trying to find N. While there, she meets three trainers from Hoenn, and one of them reminds her of who she's looking for. N, returning to Unova after two years, has just been told that Hilda went to Kalos. Wanting to see her again, he too runs off to Kalos. What will happen once they find each other?
1. High Dive

**I feel the need to explain their ages. Starting in Hoenn, May and Brendan are twelve, while Wally is ten. There's six years total between the events in Hoenn and the second round of events in Unova. This story takes place after Neo-team Plasma has been defeated. Therefore, May and Brendan are eighteen, while Wally is sixteen. I bumped up Hilda's age, so she is now eighteen, instead of the sixteen she'd be if I used canon ages. N is nineteen.**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon isn't mine. Why would I be writing fanfiction if it were?**

* * *

Two years ago, I developed a fondness for this ferris wheel. As I was about to take my routine Friday ride, I saw the trainer that had helped defeat Neo-team Plasma. Walking up behind her, I tapped her shoulder.

"I love ferris wheels. Come with me, please. It's always better with a companion."

"Sure," she replied. "I know we've battled some, but I've never gotten to properly introduce myself," she added as we got into the pokeball-shaped cart. "I'm Rosa," she said, hand out, as I stepped in after her.

I shook her hand. "My full name is Natural Harmonia Gropius, but everyone calls me N," I said. I sat down on the bench opposite of Rosa. A few minutes into the ten minute trip, I broke our silence. I couldn't help it.

"You… you remind me of that other trainer, from two years ago," I said. "Come to think of it, we rode this ferris wheel together, too. We were both trying hard to make our dreams come true. I know she did. I wonder if I'll ever meet her again." I paused. "Sorry for all of the rambling."

"It's alright," she said, curiosity coloring her voice. "Are you talking about a trainer named Hilda?"

"Yes, why?"

"So you ARE that N that she talked about! Hilda talked about you a lot after she became the champion. She never talked about looks; she just babbled on about how you were an awesome pokemon trainer."

I blushed. "Yes. How—how do you know about all of that?" I asked, twirling a strand of hair near my face.

"Hilda is my cousin," she beamed. "She's been traveling, looking for you. Just last week, she was here for a couple of days, but she didn't really talk to us, outside of letting us know she was going to Kalos. She talked about beating the gyms there, but I know that's not her only reason. That necklace you gave her? She's always wearing it."

"She's been looking for me?" I couldn't stop my face from splitting into a grin. "And she's in Kalos?"

"Yep," Rosa confirmed, smiling.

"I'm going to look for her," I said. "As soon as we get off of this wheel, I'm going to go find her."

* * *

_**Meanwhile, in Kalos…**_

"Thank you, Professor Sycamore," I said, clipping my newly acquired pokemon onto my belt. It was a chespin, named Harmonia.

"Any more questions?" he asked.

"Um, yes, but this one is a bit more personal, though," I said. "I'm looking for someone." I pulled out the picture I had of Natural and me. "This is what he looks like," I said.

He narrowed his eyes. "Yes, someone that looks like that has been in here today. He was with two others, and they were here asking questions about mega evolution. As they left, they were arguing about which pokecenter to stay at."

Of course Natural would want to know more about mega evolution. I wonder who his new companions were. His foster sisters? Someone else? "Thank you so much, Professor," I said. And with that, I turned and left, waving before I ran down the stairs.

At the first pokecenter, I was told that he wasn't there, after showing Nurse Joy my picture. Thanking her, I left, running for the other one.

"Hello, ma'am," I said looking at the Nurse Joy. "I was wondering if you have seen anyone that looks like this here today," I added.

"Yes, I believe so," she said. Looking upwards, she closed her eyes, concentrating on something. "Yes," she said, opening her eyes. "in fact, he checked in for the night, with two other friends." She opened a drawer under her desk, and I heard shuffling noises. "He's in room 210," she said, smiling at me.

"Thank you, so, so much," I said, moving so that the next person in line could step up. After walking a few steps, I couldn't restrain myself. I ran upstairs, looking for the room.

Finally, I reached the door that had '210' posted on it. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door.

* * *

Just as Brendan was getting into the shower, we heard a knock at the door. Confused, I got up and opened it. When I did, I heard a squeal, and suddenly had an armful of warmth.

"Natural!" she shouted, squeezing me. "I've been looking for you for so long, I'm…" she trailed off, pulling back.

"Um, who's Natural? My name is Wally," I told her.

"Oh." It was just above a whisper. "I—I just… Well, you look almost exactly like the guy I'm looking for," she said. I could see her eyes filling with tears.

May, who had apparently been right behind me the whole time, had a concerned look on her face. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

The girl grabbed the strange pendant around her neck—was it a model of an atom?—and her tears started to fall. "I've been looking for the guy that gave me this necklace for two years now. I thought I had finally found him, but it's just another dead end. And I wound up bothering you guys, too. I'm sorry," she said, turning around to leave.

May caught her wrist, pulling her back before she could. The girl, surprised, followed May into the room. "Close the door, Wally," May gently commanded.

I did as I was told, and sat down as May started to comfort the strange girl.

* * *

**I know that this first chapter is a little fast-paced, but it'll slow down some in the next chapters. I plan on using the POVs of Hilda, N, May, Brendan, and Wally. Since this is taking place around the same time as Team Flare's activities, I'm considering writing in Serena and Calem's point of view, too. If not, they will still appear in the story.**

**anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, despite it being short. The next chapter will be longer.**


	2. Into Frozen Waves

_**Back in Unova**_

As soon as I had gotten off of the ferriswheel, I had shouted a quick 'goodbye' and 'thanks!' to Rosa. I transported to my room, thanking my abra as I stared to pack. Rushing, I almost forgot one of the most important things—my picture of Hilda and me together. Usually, I had it in my pocket, but I had looked at it a lot last night, and set it down on my night stand. Asking my abra to transport me once more, I got a ticket for the next boat to Kalos. And, of course, the boat wasn't leaving until tomorrow morning. So I went to Driftveil City's pokecenter to stay for the night.

In the morning, I took a quick shower, throwing on my clothes. I pulled my long hair back into a sloppy ponytail. Skipping breakfast, I started biking to the boat. I could eat there. It took me five minutes to get there, and I was panting. I felt like I looked like a likitung.

"Ticket?"

"Right here," I said, handing him the slip of heavy paper. He punched holes in it, stamped an 'OK' on the front, and handed it back.

"You can enter now."

"Thank you," I said, rushing on to the boat and to my designated cabin. I dumped my bags on the bed, and then went to find the cafeteria. I saw the breakfast buffet and got in line, filling up my plate, not paying attention to what was going on it. I went and sat down in the corner, next to a window. I started eating, slipping into autopilot. As I watched the waves, my mind drifted back to the week I had spent with Hilda and her friends before I left for Johto.

_It was a terrific summer week. Hilda had just entered the Hall of Fame, choosing not to take the title of Champion. We had all spent a few days in Driftveil City, and we were heading for Nimbasa City. The amusement park we chose to go to was the one where I had rode the ferriswheel with Hilda. New stalls had been set up, increasing the variety of things a person could buy. Stopping at one particular one, I saw many types of cameras. One had a special type of film—you wound the camera up, and it would immediately print the picture out for you. Since it wasn't too expensive, I decided to buy it._

_ Once we got done looking at all of the stalls, we went to ride some of the coasters. This is when I started taking pictures. One while we were in line, one right before the coaster took off, and one right after the ride was over, with a green-faced Cheren in the background. We rode a few more that were less intense, and I was actually able to get a picture in the middle of one of them._

_ After that, we split up, because Bianca and Cheren wanted to take a break to eat and drink. I took a picture of them waving, looking back at Hilda and me as they ran off. Now that we were alone, we decided to ride the ferriswheel again. Climbing into the cart, we sat on opposite sides; legs stretched out and almost intertwined. As the wheel started to move, I took a picture of her._

_ "Let me hold it, I want to take one of you," she said._

_ I handed it to her, and she took one. I stood up, and then sat down next to her. Taking the camera back, I snapped two pictures of us. Shaking each one to make it develop a bit faster, I handed one to her. "Now we have a picture of each other," I said. "We should let Bianca and Cheren take one together, too," I added._

_ She snorted. "Maybe then they'll actually see that they were meant to be together."_

_ I blushed at that. I felt the same way about her as Cheren did for Bianca. I don't know if she feels like that about me, though. That's one of the reasons I took a picture with her—I was leaving soon, and I wanted something to remember her by. And I hope she would remember me by that picture, too._

_ "You okay?"_

_ "Yeah, I'm fine." We stepped off the ride, and went to find the others. We made them take a picture together, and Cheren wound up kissing Bianca's cheek for both of them._

_ We all went back to Nuvema Town. I spent the night at Cheren's, talking with him about many things, including how we felt about the girls, which was a bit of an awkward conversation. I was still getting used to talking about those kinds of feelings. I spent the next two days in that town, hanging out with the trio._

_ Then, the night after the second day, I left. Before that, I wrote a goodbye note, telling Hilda that I was leaving Unova, not telling her where I would go. I silently entered her room, leaving the note on her bedside table with some of the pictures I had taken. Then, on a whim, I left my necklace with her._

_ My heart ached as I left, but I resisted the urge to stop and turn back._

I realized that I had gotten lost in my memories for quite some time now. Everyone that had been in here for breakfast when I arrived had been replaced with other people. Putting my empty, dirty dishes in their designated place, I left. Not knowing what else to do, I went and sat on the deck. I watched pokemon fly above the boat; some of them belonging to trainers who were letting them enjoy the sea air. I smiled at that. I was glad that I had been wrong about trainers. I loved seeing the bonds between a pokemon and its trainer.

Some pokemon had initiated battles without their trainers; when the trainers caught on they started giving commands to them, lazily shouting upwards. When the pokemon started looking tired, they were called down from the sky and told to rest.

I sat there until I noticed my stomach growling again. And with that, I went to eat again.

* * *

_**In Kalos…**_

Hilda, the girl that had shown up last night, was staring out the window. Originally from Unova, she had traveled through different regions searching for the guy that looked like Wally. The guy she talked about could talk with pokemon, and had grown up thinking all trainers were abusive. However, with the way they continued to meet up, she had taught him the truth about trainers. She said he helped her become a better trainer, too, since the way he talked made her re-evaluate her bonds with her pokemon. To me, it seemed obvious that she loved him, but I decided I wouldn't ask. It was probably a sensitive subject. We went downstairs to let her check into our room, and then we went to bed.

Now that it was morning, I was spending some time with Brendan. I loved this boy so much. "Hey, Bren?"

"Yes, sweetie?" he replied.

"I want to help Hilda find this N dude she's looking for, if she will accept our help," I said.

He smiled. "I figured you would," he said, lifting up my hand and kissing it gently. "Both you and Wally are hopeless romantics."

"I leaned over the table and kissed his nose. "Well then, let's go and ask," I said, standing up. Brendan picked up our trash, and we walked towards her, hands intertwined.

"Hey, Hilda," I said, lightly tapping her shoulder.

"Oh. Um, hi," she said, a note of sadness in her voice. "What is it?"

"If you want, we will help you find N," I said.

And with that, she gave us a small smile. "Yes. I would appreciate that," she said, grabbing the charm on her necklace. "But today, I'd like to challenge the gym leader."

* * *

**So, here's the second chapter. I actually added a decent amount of content while I was typing it up. (I write my stories down on paper first.) I feel like I did a decent job at slowing it down some. Anyway, I hope you liked it! :)**


	3. Where the Past Comes Back to Life

On the boat to Kalos…

After lunch, I wandered around the boat. I saw a game room containing slot machines and card games. Walking in, I saw that there was a door that led to a room with video games. But since I was old enough to use the slot machines and participate in card games, I decided I'd try my hand at them.

I saw blackjack, Johto Hold 'Em, and even Spades. I stopped, observing it for a minute. No partners, unlike a normal game. I might play that, after I'm done looking at other games. I saw a flip card game, played on a touch screen table. It was called "Voltorb Flip". It was simple enough—you got a hint of how many were in each row and column, and had to avoid flipping a voltorb card. Sinnoh Roulette... all sorts of betting games. I could do some damage here; all this is math. Card counting and rules of probability. I'll avoid slot machines; they're too unpredictable. Sinnoh Roulette was similar.

I'll start with Voltorb Flip; then move on to Spades. It'll be interesting to play a slightly different version. I sat down at one of the empty Voltorb Flip tables.

"Hell, young man. What's your name?" the guy on the other side asked.

"I like to be called N."

"Okay, N. this game is simple enough. You bet an amount of money, and then you have to find all of the twos and threes while avoiding a Voltorb card. The twos and threes will double and triple your money; the Voltorbs will cause you to lose it all. There are also cards with the amount of one on them. They neither increase nor decrease your money," he explained.

Just like I thought. "Okay, I'll play. Is there a minimum starting amount?"

"Ten pokedollars."

I laid down fifteen, which was half of what I had left after buying my ticket. Then, I pressed the 'Start' button. The five-by-five grid popped up, all cards facedown. In the five rows, there was one in the first, three in the second, four in the third, two in the fourth, and three in the fifth. In the columns, from left to right, there was four, two, three, three, and one. I stared at the setup. Thinking carefully, I tapped the screen to flip a card in the first row. The hidden number was one. I slowly continued, finding all of the twos and threes. After finishing the first level, the man told me that there were eight levels, total. I decided to work my way through them, betting half of my money each time. In the end, I had won every game, and stacked up quite a bit of money.

After collecting it, I played a few games of Spades. I lost the first game, but I didn't lose much money. The second and third games, I got a better hand, and was able to collect the most books. And, with that, I quit, not wanting to win too much more money—I didn't have a lot of real-world experience, thanks to Ghetsis, but I knew winning too much would be suspicious.

I strolled into the game room for younger people, and saw many different arcade games. There was a couple where two or four people would fight (not with pokemon), a couple of racing ones, and some where you'd guide a jigglypuff through a maze, keeping it away from multiple gengar.

Wanting to waste some more time before I went and ate supper, I decided to play one of the other games. I inserted some change into the machine, and let the balls roll down. I got a few decent scores, but nowhere close to the high score. I gave the tickets I had gathered to a few different children before I left.

I remember there being a few games at the amusement park that you had to pay extra for. You'd have to knock down bottles or race little electric cars. If you won, you could choose from a variety of different candies or pokedolls, depending on how well you did. I had seen multiple guys play them, and got a pokedoll for their girlfriend after they won. I remembered how I had wanted to do it for Hilda. Something had held me back from that, though. What, I don't know. I guess I had been too shy.

I ate a fast supper, and went back to my cabin, glad that we were halfway to Kalos. However, I was also nervous. I was beginning to wonder if Hilda had heard about Team Plasma coming back. If she had, did she blame me? Did she think I had betrayed her, by not having them totally disband? I thought they had broken up after I left, so I hadn't done anything. I stood up and started pacing back and forth. Had she stopped trying to find me, just wanting to keep me a distant memory?

I stopped in the middle of my pacing. I will find her, and I know how I'll be able to show her my regret. I had somewhat betrayed her by leaving so suddenly, without much of an explanation.

So I walked to my bag, fishing through it. I pulled out the pocket knife I had packed. Walking over to the mirror, I pulled out the blade. Carefully placing it between my hair and the bottom of my neck, I started sawing the dull blade through my hair. Then, I let the cut off ponytail drop to the floor. The ends of my hair were messy, falling just past the tops of my shoulders. I didn't try to even it out; I would just make more of a mess of it. I snapped the blade back into its closed position, putting it on the counter.

Picking the sawed off part of my hair up off the floor, I walked out of my cabin and back to the decks. I stood on the back of the ship, alone. I watched how the waves were disrupted by the path of the boat. Taking a deep breath, I tossed the ponytail overboard. Soon after it hit the waves, it disappeared.

Back in my cabin, I laid on the bed, not taking the time to remove any of my clothing. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

* * *

At the Pokecenter…

_My night had been a restless one. After having to tell the story of why I was looking for Natural, all of the old memories had resurfaced. I had tossed and turned, my mind going 500 miles a minute._

_It's been four days since I had refused the title of champion, happy with just being a part of the Hall of Fame. We were wandering through the amusement park, looking at all the new stalls people had set up. I bought some bracelets at one, liking how they reminded me of _Natural's_. He had found a better buy, though. A stall with nothing but different types of cameras, he found one that had self-developing film. He bought _it,_ and got two extra rolls of film._

_All of the pictures from the roller coaster rides were funny, especially the one in the middle of a loop. Everyone's hair hanging upside down, our faces slightly flushed from all of the blood rushing to them. Natural's usual ponytail had fallen out. Right-side-up, we all looked like we had been shocked by a _pikachu_._

_After that ride, Bianca and Cheren had gone to eat. Well, Cheren was getting a ginger ale to calm his stomach. Natural and I decided to ride the _ferriswheel_ again. At first, we had been sitting on opposite sides of the carriage. Then, he moved over to my _side,_ and shot two pictures of us together._

_Looking back, I should've known that something fishy was going on. Why would we need a picture of each other if we would be able to see each other often? The next few days, we all hung out in _Nuevma_ Town. Bianca had spent the night at my house after we had gotten back from the amusement park, talking out boys and _pokemon_._

_Waking up that day, I was devastated when I saw Natural's letter. I had run outside, banging on Cheren's door, waking up everyone in the house. After seeing he wasn't there, I checked with Bianca, and then Professor Juniper. He wasn't in _Nuevma_ town anymore. I ran back into my house, throwing on my clothes. Moma had stopped me before I could get back outside, though. Explaining the situation to her is what made me break down into tears. That was the day I had put on his necklace, never taking it off._

_After that, I spent two more weeks in _Nuevama_ town, after helping some dude who called himself 'Looker'. After I had finished helping him, he mentioned something about how Natural had been spotted in another region. Hearing that, I had run home, explaining the situation to my mom. I told her I was going to go and look for him. She wanted to object, but she said she knew she couldn't stop me. I spent the rest of the day with Bianca and Cheren, packing up and leaving for the Sinnoh region the next day._

Kalos was interesting so far, but it would've been better with Natural by my side. I got ready for the day on autopilot, not really paying attention to anyone. I planned on challenging the gym today, so I was thinking of strategies to use. Then, May came up and asked if I wanted their help finding Natural. Smiling, I accepted their help and, then let them know that I wanted to challenge the gym today.

After that, they decided they'd like to try their hand at it, too. We spent the next hour planning out which team would be the best. I was sad that I couldn't use my samurott, but Clemont was an electric type gym leader. So, I chose my whimsicott, my umbreon, my krokorok, my boldore, and I had chespin in my party, so that he could gain some experience (thank you, lucky egg).

May had her sceptile, a linoone, an absol, a stunfisk, and her jolteon. Brendan's team was similar, with a blaziken instead of a sceptile and a leafeon instead of a jolteon. Maybe the team similarities had something to do with them being a couple. Wally had a gallade, an espeon, a swampert, a metagross, and a camerupt.

After a few warm-up battles, we healed ourpokemon and headed to the gym.

* * *

**I'm sorry about cutting N's hair. :/ I really liked his long hair, but I also like the idea of him doing that tradition because of how he felt like he had betrayed someone. I'm also sorry if the timing of the chapters **are** strange... This **chaper** is N's day on the **boat,** and Hilda's first full day with our Hoenn trio. it'll be easier to tell once all of the group is together. -Sigh-**

**Anyway, the battle will be in the next chapter. I had originally planned on having the battle at a later time, so I haven't written it yet, and I need practice since this will be the first one I've written.**

**I'll have it out soon, though! :)**


	4. Fight Fear for the Selfish Pain

**Hilda's POV**

Well, it was finally time. Brendan, Wally, May, and I ascended Prism Tower, solving the puzzles we needed to in order to reach Clemont.

"So, who's gonna be the first to battle him?" Wally asked.

"Um," May hummed.

"I'll go first," Brendan smiled.

Sounds good to me," I replied. We had come in just as a battle ended. We saw a young trainer with dark hair receive his badge, and he was followed out by a small entourage, with one kid dancing as he left. The last to leave was a blonde-haired girl, who had the gym's badge already pinned to her shirt.

"Hello, new trainers," Clemont greeted. "Are you all here to battle?"

Brendan nodded. "I'll be going first, if you're ready."

Clemont grabbed his pokeballs from a machine that looked similar to the one that Nurses Joy used. "I am. Step in, and let the battle begin."

Brendan grabbed one of his pokeballs, the stepped out onto the platform. Out came his stunfisk. _Good choice_, I thought, watching the battle begin. I loved watching battles almost as much as I loved battling. The back and forth dance between the trainers and their Pokémon, the dust and flashes of light that came from the Pokémon moves, and the shouts of the trainers and the cries of the Pokémon. I heard Brendan call his stunfisk back to him, and watched as he brought out his leafeon. Battles were like poetry in motion. Brendan's battle with Clemont was an intense one, with both trainers sweating, the Pokémon huffing from all the exercise. Despite that, though, you could see a smile on both of the trainer's faces, and could see the gleam of happiness in the Pokémons' eyes from a mile away. Brendan was one hit away from winning. He'd had to switch out to his blaziken midway through fighting with his leafeon, so he shouted out one last command. It landed heavily on Clemont's heliolisk, who fell backwards as he fainted, getting gathered into his pokeball before he could hit the floor.

May started clapping, and Wally and I followed suit. "Awesome job, sweetie!' she called. He waved at her and grinned. Shaking Clemont's hand, he took the badge and walked off the stage.

"So, which one of you would like to go next?" Clemont asked. Wally volunteered, and the rest of us relaxed and cheered him on. Unlike Brendan, he had a rather easy battle. Brendan's had lasted around 25 minutes, and Wally's only lasted around ten.

"Okay ladies, which of you would like to go first?"

May and I looked at each other. "Do you mind if I go first?" I asked her.

"Sure, no problem," she replied, a grin on her face.

So, with it being my turn, I walked down to the stage. I could feel my adrenalin beginning to build. I took a deep breath, stepping onto the spot to begin my battle. "GO, UMBREON!" I shouted, just as Clemont sent out his emolga.

"Emolga, use aerial ace!" he cried. It hit umbreon, but just barely.

"Umbreon! Use confuse ray!" my beautiful umbreon jumped into the air, rings beginning to glow as he powered up his confuse ray. It hit, right as Clemont was telling emolga to use volt switch. His attack missed umbreon, who I then commanded to use dark pulse. The energy from the attack spread out in all directions, and Clemont and I ducked as it went over our heads.

"Nice move, trainer," Clemont yelled over the noise of the battle. "Too bad I'm still going to win!"

"You keep thinking that, gadget boy," I replied. He told his emolga to use quick attack, which missed, causing him to hit the floor. Poor emolga hit it so hard, he damaged himself. I was about to get umbreon to use toxic, but emolga was able to get in a successful volt switch before I could. Out came magneton. Umbreon was panting, so I got him to use moonlight. His health restored, but I realized his attacks wouldn't really affect magneton. So I order him to use confuse ray once more, which hit, just as magneton's mirror shot hit him. I called umbreon back, sending out krokorok. "Krokorok, use earthquake!" I yelled, frantically watching magneton trying to attack. Earthquake hit, causing a one hit KO for magneton. Emolga came back out, still confused, trying to use volt switch again. It hit krokorok, but left no damage. Heliolisk came out as emolga returned to his pokeball.

"Heliolisk, use grass knot!" I winced as the attack hit krokorok, who almost fainted from it.

"Krokorok, use earthquake one more time!" he did. It hit heliolisk, who also dropped low on his hit points. The screen changed as I sent out boldore, with the red health bar changing to a green one. Heliolisk tried attacking, but I was able to command boldore to doge it just in time. "Use mud slap!" I cried, and boldore happily obeyed my request.

Emolga came out of his pokeball once more. "Emolga, aerial ace!" the attack hit boldore, but the health bar on the screen didn't change to yellow, staying a steady green.

"Boldore, smack down!" and with that, emolga returned to his pokeball one final time.

"That was a great battle, my friend," Clemont said, taking a deep breath, putting emolga's pokeball into the machine to heal him. From another spot, he pulled out a badge, which he handed to me. I noticed him staring at my necklace with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Thanks," I replied, taking the badge. "And yes, the battle was amazing," I added, breathing in deeply and letting it out slowly, smiling as I did so. I went and sat down, ignoring his expression and checking my battle time. Fifteen minutes. Not too bad. I sat down, watching may as she battled. She had a certain grace about her as she did so.

"She's amazing, right?"

I startled slightly when I heard Brendan speak. "Oh, yes. I was just noticing how at ease she looks. She looks graceful, like the kimono dancers I met back in Jhoto."

"Well, May was champion of Hoenn for a while. But after a few battles as champion, she decided that it just wasn't for her. She would rather travel around Hoenn, and travel to different lands, too. Oh, and just so you know, you have a similar grace to your battling. Not as polished as May's, but that could be my bias speaking," he grinned.

"Yeah, it's definitely your bias speaking," Wally said. "I noticed how well you held yourself during battle, and you make it look as effortless as May does. Were you champion of Unova?"

Blushing, I replied, "well, I could have been, but I refused it right away. Hall of Fame was good enough for me. I wanted to travel more, find out more about the legends of Unova, along with my old friends and Natural. But Natural left soon afterwards, so I wasn't able to do that, obviously."

Wally nodded. "That's pretty cool. Sounds like you have a really interesting story, but you only gave use the bare bones of your story last night."

Brendan flicked Wally's ear. "God, Wally. Don't be so insensitive. She was upset and tired, and she barely knows us. Of course she wouldn't got into extreme detail." He rolled his eyes.

"It's alright," I replied. "I'll add more details in later, I promise." I smiled. Just then, May joined us. She had the shortest battle time, coming in at just under ten minutes.

"That was super fun," May puffed, taking in a deep breath.

"I was," I said, turning my head as Clemont called out to us.

"Hey!" he waved, running towards us in an uncomfortable-looking run. Just as I was afraid he was going to sprain an ankle, he stopped. "What's your necklace supposed to be?"

"Um. I honestly don't know; it was given to me by someone special, and he left before he told me what it was." On a whim, I pulled out the picture I had of Natural and me. "This is what he looks like. If you see him, tell him that Hilda is staying in room 210 in the Southern Lumiose Pokecenter." He nodded, saying he would, and I carefully replaced the photo in its proper spot. I waved goodbye to Clemont as we walked out of the arena area of the gym, getting on the elevator that would take us back down.

"So, what do y'all want to do next?" I asked as we stepped off the elevator.

"Honestly, I think I wanna stay here for another week or so," May said. "I know you want to find your friend, and I do really want to help you. But touring Lumiose would be cool, too."

"You know, it actually might be a good idea to stay here for at least a few more days. It would be nice to relax some, check out all of the cafés," I said.

"And the boutiques," Wally added. "Kalos is famous for its fashion industry, I would love to see what they have, and see what advertising strategies they use."

"Don't lie Wally, you're just a fashionista."

"God, Brendan. You act like that's a bad thing."

"It's not, it's just annoying when you get overzealous."

I giggled, listening to their back and forth. I think a few days of relaxation might be good for me, despite my urge to run straight to Laverre. I had already been through Shalour, Geosenge, Cyllage, and Camphrier cities. No real signs of Natural, just guesses. And all the hints I had been getting had led me to Wally, not Natural. I sighed inwardly. I would find him; I knew I would. It was just the 'when' that was bothering me.

* * *

**N's POV**

I awoke with a start, hearing the bumping of suitcases and cries of Pokémon in the rooms next to me. Rubbing my eyes, I got up and looked out my little porthole window. We had finally arrived in Kalos. I threw together what little I had out back into my bag, deciding to not change clothes, since the ones I had on weren't all that wrinkly. I got off the boat as fast as I could. Hilda had to have been here for about a week, so I didn't know how difficult or easy it would be to find her. We landed in a town called Coumarine, which was home to a popular resort. Or that's what I gathered from the snippets of conversation I heard on my way to the rail station that connected our docking location the inland portion of the city. I was heading straight to Lumoise, because it seemed like the most logical place to start looking for Hilda. The train ride was a quick one, lasting only about thirty minutes. I saw that there was a gym in this part of the town, so I stopped by it. I was finally able to convince the trainers that all I wanted to do was talk to the gym leader, and he told me that he had seen Hilda when I showed him the picture. So with that information, I headed to Route 13. Lumiose, here I come.

Route 13 wasn't that long; I was able to reach the northern half of Lumiose by nightfall. I wanted to go straight to the gym and ask the leader about Hilda, but I was too tired to do so. Instead, I checked into the Northern Pokecenter, and went to sleep for the night.

I stretched out as I woke up, trying to remember the dream I'd had last night, but the details were fading quickly, like the colors of a sunset melting into dusk. The only thing I remembered from the dream was Hilda's beautiful face, and even that was fading to all the shades of grey she had taught me about. I sat up and picked up the picture I had of Hilda and me together on the Ferris wheel. Our faces took up most of it, but behind us, the view stretched on and on, lights blazing up close, and a few shining way in the background. What I had seen here in this city, nicknamed "The City of Lights", just couldn't measure up to the background of this picture, in my mind. Maybe if I took another picture with Hilda, my opinion would change. But for now, the lights in this picture were the most beautiful.

I sat the picture back down on the bedside table, then went to take a shower. Washing my hair felt weird, since this was the first time I had done so since I chopped my ponytail off. And you could tell I had done a terrible job at cutting it—lots of uneven ends, and it tapered some in the back. Oh well. I didn't do it with my looks in mind; I was just chopping it off because I felt I needed to honor tradition.

I got dressed for the day, then headed downstairs. I picked up a brochure for Lumoise, and a map of the country. Opening the brochure, I saw a long list of cafés as part of the city attractions. Prism Tower was the gym. Standing up, I headed to one of the cafés.

Once I was there, I ordered some breakfast. On the map, I crossed out Coumarine. No Hilda there. I studied the rest of the map, wondering where she could be. I got up, paid for my breakfast, and headed to the gym.

It was much harder to convince these trainers to let me see Clemont, the leader, without fighting them. I managed to get up with only having to fight one of them. When I got to the arena, the gym leader was the only one that was there. He turned when he heard me walk in.

"Hello. How are you? You must be very eager to battle, getting here this early."

"Actually, I'm not here to battle. I just want to talk to you for a few minutes. You see, I'm looking for someone, and I feel like you might have seen her." I pulled the picture out of my pocket. "This is what she looks like." He squinted at the picture for a few seconds.

"Oh yeah, I've seen her. In fact, she was here just yesterday, asking about whether you had been spotted here in the gym or not. She said she's staying in the Southern Pokecenter; she gave me a room number, but I can't remember what it is. Something that ends with 'ten'."

"Thank you, sir," I said, and then almost ran out of the room. I was so close, and I hadn't even known it. So when I got outside, I really did start running. All the way to the Pokecenter. When I got there, I was gasping for breath. After a few deep breaths, I went up to the Nurse Joy and asked her if Hilda was there, and if so she was, what her room number was.

"Oh, yes. She's here, in a quad room. Room 210."

"Room 210, got it. Thank you, Nurse." I turned towards the stairs, and started walking up them, looking forward to getting to room 210, hoping like hell she was there. When I got there, I knocked on the door. Lightly at first, but then harder a second time. The door cracked open a moment later, and a groggy kid with green hair opened the door, face to the floor.

"God, Brendan. I know you forgot your key; why didn't you just use May's?" he asked, finally looking up. I was shocked to see his face when he did. He was almost like a mirror image of me. His face still had a slight boyish quality to it, and his eyes were a grey-blue, but those were the only differences. He looked confused for a moment. Then, suddenly, his features relaxed into a smile. "You must be Natural. You do know that Hilda's been looking for you for a long time now, right?"

Ignoring the shock, I asked if she was there.

"No, her and my friends went to a café for breakfast. But you can come in here and wait for them to get back, if you'd like."

"Yes, I would greatly appreciate that."

"Then come on in."

We sat down, and as I sat on the couch in the common area, I saw an old, beaten-up bag that I recognized as Hilda's. I almost went to grab it to look through it, to see if she kept our picture with her always, but refrained from doing so. Couldn't look like a creepy stalker guy in front of this kid.

"So, how do you know Hilda?" I asked him.

"Oh, she showed up at our door the other day, and practically tackled me because she thought I was you. But hey, can't blame her there. We could totally be twins. Anyway, she told us the story of how you two met, became friends, and how you left. And that she's been looking for you ever since. And now, I can't wait to see her face when she sees that you're actually here. If she tackled me, I can't imagine what she'll do to you." At that, he smiled, a dreamy look crossing his face. "I love to see people get reunited. And it's even better if they're in love," he sighed happily.

"How could she be in love me after all I've done to her, leaving her like I did? It could just be that she feels like she owes me or something."

"Nah, man. It's definitely that she loves you." He gave me a thumbs up. "Anyway, they should be getting here soon; they've been gone for an hour now. And we have plans to go to a boutique later today," he grinned.

I couldn't help it; I grinned back. "I hope you're right, man. I hope you're right." About ten minutes later, we heard some noise at the door. Not the kind people make when they pass the door, the kind that's actually at the door. I froze, almost afraid to take my eyes away from the screen. I ripped them away, anyways, so that I could look at the door as it opened. First, in came a girl I didn't know, followed by a boy holding her hand, and finally, finally, I saw Hilda. For the first time in two years, I saw her beautiful face again, in real life, close enough to touch. I immediately realized a few small changes. Her hair was longer, like she hadn't cut it at all these past two years. Her skin was a few shades darker, and her eyes looked deeper than the ocean, like they were full of ideas I'd never understand and mysteries I'd never solve.

When she saw me, the smile dropped from her face. Her face drained slightly of color, and she looked at me like she had seen a ghost. "N-natural? Is that you?" she whispered, sounding like she was about to cry.

I walked over to her, pulling her into a hug. "Yes. And I'm so, so happy to have found you again," I told her, pulling back and twisting one of the tendrils of her hair that was always hanging by her face. I felt something that was round, but still felt like it had edges, between us. _My necklace._

She pulled back a little, lifting it up. She cradled it in her hand. "I haven't taken it off since the day you left. Not to sleep, not to shower. It's always with me."

"What about the picture?" I asked. "I always have mine with me, in my pocket," I said, pulling it out like it was proof that it was on me 24/7. She just grinned, and pulled her copy out.

That's when we remembered that we weren't alone. I turned around towards the others, blushing, and saw the other girl, hold her hand over her heart, with the same dreamy expression Wally had worn earlier (and which had now returned).

"So," said the guy holding the girl's hand, "nice to meet you. I'm Brendan, and this is May. And I'm guess Wally's already introduced himself?"

Wally shot Brendan a look. "Yes, I have, you ass. Jeeze."

May just laughed. "You would think they hate each other, wouldn't you? I swear to god, it's like they're brothers." She looked me straight in the eyes and said, "but you and Walls really _look_ like you could be brothers. Are your parents of any relation to his?"

"I don't know my biological parents," I replied. "I was raised in an... unorthodox way before my adopted dad found me. So it's likely that I either was abandoned or kidnapped. It's also possible that I wandered off and got lost and couldn't be found, but it's whatever."

"Interesting," she replied. "Maybe the two of y'all are long-lost relations of some kind. Or it's just coincidence. Either way, it's still shocking how much the two of you look alike. And hey, the two of y'all should go and catch up some; we can go shopping later."

I looked at Hilda. "Do you wanna sit down and talk? Or would you rather explore a new place with me and explain what's been going on in that head of yours since we've been separated?"

"I've always been fond of exploring," I grinned.

"Alright then. Looks like we can go ahead and shop, then," Hilda grinned.

* * *

**Hilda's POV**

The first thing I noticed about him was his hair. It was now at his shoulders and looked all choppy, like someone had cut his hair with quilting scissors. His eyes had changed, too. The happiness that had been in them those last few days together had deepened, like he had finally come to peace with himself. He carried himself in a different way, too. As if he had more confidence. It was even more obvious now, since we were out and about. So far, we had gone to two different cafés (only one for Wally), and had peeked into the window of a restaurant that had you doing battles between each course of the meal. We had just visited the herbal shop, and we were now on our way to the stone emporium.

"After this, we totally have to go to see Boutique Couture," Wally said.

"Always worried about what's in style, aren't you, Wally?" Brendan grinned, mussing Wally's hair.

"You know it," he said, poking at Brendan's beanie, but not completely messing it up. I had noticed that both him and May seemed to not bother it. It's like it was his trademark or something.

Anyway, when we got to the store, we all saw that they had mega stones here. "Oh wow. I thought these were supposed to be hard to find!"

"Some are," replied the shopkeep. "Others, not too much. For example, you don't have to look too hard to find one for pidgey. However, finding one for someone like charizard is almost impossible."

"Ohhh, okay," I nodded. I still didn't know much about mega evolution; I had only heard of it when I traveled through Hoenn. All I really knew is it was something that happened mid-battle.

Next, we finally granted Wally's request to go to the boutique. I decided that it was time to at least slightly change my wardrobe, since it had been pretty much the same for the past few years. Women's clothing was on first floor; men's clothing on second. So we all split. May and I dug around the in the clearance section, not looking for anything in particular. I found a cool pair of socks, a black parka paired with a short white tank, and some cool lace-up boots. I tried all of them on, then emerged for the dressing room stall at the same time as May.

"Pretty fashionable, right?" she asked. She had on a pair of black skinnies, red high tops, and her normal shirt and bandana.

"Definitely." I struck a pose. "What about me?"

"I'll give you an A+," she replied.

"Well, I actually really like it, so I think I'll actually buy it."

"Same here," she replied.

We were about to go change back into our normal clothes, but before we could, the attendant asked us if we would like to buy it and wear it out. I liked the idea of that, so I handed over the money I owed her and walked out. May did the same. Just as we were walking towards the stairs to go find the boys, they walked on down. wally had radically changed his look; Brendan was right when he picked at Wally about being a fashionista. Brendan has just switched out pants and shoes, like May, and Natural had switched out his long-sleeved button up for a black V-neck tee and a pair of damaged jeans that reminded me of my shorts. The look suited him well.

After leaving the boutique, we all decided it was time to eat. So we went to another café, because the battle restaurants that actually looked good wouldn't let us in. that's when Natural and I decided to split from the other three so we could catch up. As I sat down, I could tell this was gonna be a long talk. So I made sure I was comfortable, then leaned in as he started to speak.


End file.
